De desolacione castri Helisbergk.
The Siege of Helisbergk and Its Horrors
The Prussians besieged the castle of Helisbergk with three armies and siege engines, and the starving garrison ate 200 horses and their hides before secretly withdrawing to Elbing, where they blinded twelve Prussian hostages and sent them back.
Not long afterward, the Prussians besieged the castle of Helisbergk, belonging to the bishop of Warmia, with three armies, three siege engines, and other instruments and machines of war. Inside, the besieged, driven by hunger, ate 200 horses along with their hides. At last, with provisions entirely exhausted, they slipped out of the castle in secret and made their way to the city of Elbing, where they gouged out the eyes of twelve Prussian hostages they had taken with them and sent them back to their parents.
The Sons of Belial and the Wicked Counsel
The Prussians, likened to the sons of Belial, rejoiced in their success and conspired to destroy the people of the Lord, speaking the imprecatory words of Psalm 83 against God's holy ones.
95 oo) Concerning the siege of the castles of Königsberg, Kreuzburg, and Bartenstein. The sons of Belial, therefore, seeing that everything was going exactly as they wished, conceived and spoke wickedness.✦ They have spoken iniquity on high against your people, O Lord; they have devised a plan against your holy ones. They said: 'Come, let us destroy them from the nation, and let Israel be remembered no more.'✦
The Siege of Königsberg, Kreuzburg, and Bartenstein
To destroy the Lord's people utterly, the Prussians besieged the castles of Königsberg, Kreuzburg, and Bartenstein, surrounding each with three fortified bulwarks manned by warriors so that no escape was possible.
In order, therefore, to destroy the people of the Lord utterly, they gathered and besieged the castles of Königsberg, Kreuzburg, and Bartenstein. Around each one they built three strong, fortified bulwarks, manned by a great many men-at-arms, seasoned fighters, and men skilled in arms, so that no way of entering or leaving was open to the besieged.
The Unspeakable Sufferings of the Besieged
The besieged brothers in the castles endured countless assaults, dangers, famines, and shortages, at last reduced to eating animal hides, which were so tough that many lost their teeth.
The besieged brothers and others in those castles endured so many assaults, so many dangers, so many famines, so many unbearable shortages that no one could fully recount them. Once they no longer had sheep, oxen, pigs, cows, or even several horses to eat, they were reduced to eating their hides, as sheer necessity drove them to it. The hides were so tough and so unfamiliar as food that many of the brothers and others who ate them lost their teeth.
Brother Helmericus and Brother Theodoricus
In the year 1262, Brother Helmericus, who had presided as Master of Prussia for six years, died and was buried at Colmensie, while Brother Theodoricus served as marshal of Prussia, a man vigorous in arms and devoted to Christ.
96. In the year 1262: concerning Brother Helmericus, Master of the land of Prussia. Brother Helmericus, Master of the land of Prussia, presided for six years and is buried in the church of Colmensie. At this time the marshal of the land of Prussia was Brother Theodoricus, a man vigorous in arms and devoted to Christ.
Read the original Latin
Non longe postea Pruthenis cum tribus exercitibus et tribus machinis et instrumentis aliish bellicis castrum Helisbergk episcopi Warmiensis obsederunt. In quo obsessi fame cogente ccl equos et eorum cutes comederunt. Tandem deficientibus omnino victualibus, relicto Castro, secrete recesserunt usque ad civitatem Elbingensem, ubi obsidum xii Pruthenorum, quos secum duxerant, omnium eruerunt oculos, et ad parentes suos remiserunt. 95 oo) De obsidione castrorum Kunigsbergk, Cruceburgk et Barthenstein. Filii ergo Belial videntes, quod omnia succederent eis ad Votum, cogitaverunt et locuti sunt nequiciam. Iniquitatem in excelso locuti sunt super populum tuum, domine; cogitaverunt consilium adversus sanctos tuos, dixerunt: venite, disperdamus eos de gcnte, et non memoretur Israel ultra. Ut ergo populum domini usque ad internecionem delerent, convenerunt, et castra Kunigs bergk, Cruceburgk et Barthenstein obsederunt. In circuitu cujuslibet tria propugnacula firma et vallata plurimis armigeris, viris bellicosis, et in armis strenuis, construxerunt, ita quoda non patebat aliqua via intrandi aut exeundi obsessis.
Quot autem impugnaciones, quot pericula, quot inedias, quot defectus intolerabiles obsessi fratres et alii in dictis castris sustinuerunt, nullus ad plenum sufficeret enarrare. Compulsi enim fuerunt, postquam oves et boves, porcos et vaccas et equos plures non haberent, comedere pelles eorum, summa necessitate ipsos ad talia perurgente. Tanta fuit in hoc cibo inconsueto pellium duricia, ut multi fratres et aliib comedentes eas dentibus sunt privati. 96i262 De fratre Helmerico magistro terre Prussie mcclxii. Frater Helmericus terre Prussie magister vi prefuit inc annis, et sepultus est in ecclesiad Colmensie. Hoc tempore fuit marscalcus terre Prussie frater Theodoricus vir in armis strenuus et in Cristo devotus.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Judg.19.22;1Sam.1.16 — As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, sons of Belial, surrounded the house, beating against the door. And they said to the man, the owner of the house, the elder, "Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may know him." 1Sam.1.16 — Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for out of my great anguish and grief I have been speaking until now.
- ↩Ps.83.4-Ps.83.5 — Against your people they plot secretly, and they conspire against those you hold dear. Ps.83.5 — They said, 'Come, let us wipe them out as a nation, so that the name of Israel will be remembered no more.'
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